


And he didn't go to Rapunzel?

by Em_is_here



Series: Eugene Appreciation Week [3]
Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon), Tangled (2010)
Genre: Allusions to past rape of minors, Arianna is the best shoulder to cry on, Childhood Trauma, Eugene Appreciation Week, F/M, Like, Like if you aren't paying attention you won't see it, Lying to Rapunzel, but it is there, eugene had a really crappy childhood you guys, past abuse of minors mentioned, past trauma, really crappy, self doubt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-28
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:09:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23891356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Em_is_here/pseuds/Em_is_here
Summary: Eugene had a crappy childhood and doesn't want to talk to Rapunzel about it.This causes problems in their relationship.
Relationships: Eugene Fitzherbert | Flynn Rider/Rapunzel, Queen Arianna of Corona/King Frederic of Corona (Disney)
Series: Eugene Appreciation Week [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1719349
Comments: 4
Kudos: 50





	And he didn't go to Rapunzel?

**Author's Note:**

> It is VERY brief and only alluded to, but there is a brief mention of people r*ping children about halfway through this fic. If you don't want to or can't even read any kind of allusion to this kind of thing, skip the paragraph beginning with "Of course it was much worse for the girls." As long as you don't read that paragraph you should be safe. The word is never actually used, nothing is described but any person with any kind of deductive abilities should get what i was on about. 
> 
> If you need me to tag anything else, please let me know. Thank you.

A candle was lit. Rapunzel was sitting cross legged on the end of their bed.

“And where have you been?” 

“With Lance, sunshine.” He said cautiously.

“Don’t lie to me Eugene. I was looking for you this afternoon. First place I went was Lance and you weren’t with him. Want to try again?”

“Not really. Contrary to popular belief, I don't enjoy lying. Especially to you.” He sat down in the chair near the end of the bed, turning it to face his wife. 

“So why don’t you tell me the truth.”

“Because I don’t want to.” 

“Until you tell me the truth, you can find some other bed to sleep in. Goodnight Flynn.”

That stung. She hadn’t called him Flynn since he told her that his real name was Eugene. She had steadfastly refused, citing the many ways he had changed since then. 

He stood up and left the room, pausing by the door to let out a “Goodnight Blondie.” Because whatever she thought he had done, he still loved her more than his own life. He just couldn’t bring himself to tell her that he had gone to see the orphanage he had grown up in. Just to make sure that it was no longer under the control of the woman who had made his early life a living hell. As soon as he had any type of disposable income, he had set up an organisation dedicated to inspecting and improving orphanages and other places where the people society didn’t want got put. The first place he had asked to be inspected was the orphanage he grew up in.

They always came unannounced. It made it difficult to squirrel things like canes and children locked in cupboards, cellars and attics away. They also saw every room in the building or complex they could find. And spoke to as many of the patients or children as possible, as well as low status staff. If something seemed fishy, they would be marked for more frequent visits. Three separate orphanages and a hospital had been completely stripped of upper management in the year they had been doing it, including Eugene’s ex home.

Rapunzel didn’t know any of this. She didn’t even know how hard his childhood had been on him. Not truly. She knew he had grown up in an orphanage and that he had dreams of not living in an orphanage, but not much beyond what he had told her that first night by the campfire. 

The truth was that he had been abused by one matron after the other. Each one worse than the last. The older children had been lent out to work and the companies paid the orphanage, not the kids Eugene had spent years in mines and working on farms for upwards of twelve hours a day. He didn’t mind farm work - it made him strong and had made his life of thievery easier. But he still didn’t like dark enclosed spaces.

Of course it was much worse for the girls. They were lent out to farms as well but also to families as servants. There were even some that the matrons would leave in one of the nice rooms upstairs alone with strangers. Not that there hadn’t been a few visitors who asked for boys. All those were the one who hid whenever someone came to the orphanage. The abuse his sunshine had gone through her entire life was awful - a fate he would not wish on anyone but he could not help but be grateful that she had not grown up in his orphanage. 

Eugene wandered through the castle. He knew that his old room was still free, but he could not sleep. So on he wandered. 

The guards had gotten used to him enough that they didn’t question why he was out at such a late hour. Suspicious when they saw a shadowy figure but relaxing when they were able to identify him. That still felt slightly odd.

Eventually he found himself in the garden, gravitating to Rapunzel’s favourite bench. It was tucked away, in a small alcove on the far edge of the pond looking up at the castle itself. His wife had planted many different flowers around there a long time ago and they were flourishing still. 

The garden had always looked prettiest at night, especially under a clear sky and a full moon like tonight. Everything had a silvery sheen to it and it made the plants seem like they glowed with moonlight. Eugene took a deep breath and leaned his head against the wall behind him, his eyes slipping shut.

“Eugene?” He woke with a start to find the queen standing before him.

“Your highness.” He jumped up. His mother-in-law still terrified him sometimes, even though she gave him to reason to be.

She sat down and gestured for him to do the same. “You married my daughter, Eugene. I think you can call me Arianna.” 

Eugene sank down next to her, sighing as he did so.

“You want to tell me what’s wrong? Why you’re out here instead of in bed?”

“Rapunzel told me to find somewhere else to sleep.”

“Well that doesn’t sound like my daughter. What did you do to deserve such a punishment?”

“Lied about my whereabouts today. And then refused to tell her the truth.”

A long pause.

“Will you tell me the truth?” 

“I.. I… You know I was an orphan.” Eugene spilled his entire backstory into the queen’s lap. Every horrible detail and story. And then he told her all about the organisation he had set up, trying to stop it from happening to any more children. 

The sky was beginning to lighten by the time he had finished. Arianna had listened the entire time, gently stroking his back, her silence encouraging him to continue. Several times he had started to cry and she had held him long enough for him to calm down so that he could continue. 

The sun was clearly just below the horizon when Arianna spoke for the first time. 

“Your life has been awful. You have been beaten and disvalued in a way no child should be. But what stops you telling all of this to Rapunzel?”

“I don’t know. I’m scared of what she will think I guess.”

“She loves you, Eugene. Have a little faith in her.”

Eugene was suddenly reminded of the time Rapunzel decided they would celebrate his birthday while they were still on the road and how a certain monkey holding a very old man’s consciousness reminded him of a similar thing.

“Thank you, Arianna. I’m sorry I kept you up so late.”

“I’m sure the rest of the castle will understand if i sleep in a little today. Now go talk to your wife.”

Eugene kissed her cheek and hurried to the tower he and Rapunzel shared. He opened the door as quietly as he could and saw that Rapunzel had fallen asleep on top of the covers, curled into a small ball on his side of the bed. He crouched down by the side of the bed and pushed her hair out of her face. 

“Sunshine? Hey Sunshine you’re on the wrong side of the bed.”

He got a groggy “Smelled like you” for an answer. 

“Do you want to know where I was yesterday, or do you want to sleep some more?”

She steadfastly refused to open her eyes, rolling over enough so that he could slip into the bed on his side.

“Sleep. Come to bed. Please?”

“Of course Blondie.” He removed his boots and jacket, leaving the rest of his clothes as they were before climbing into bed behind his wife.

“I love you, Eugene Fitzherbert. And you don’t have to tell me where you’ve been. Just please. Don’t lie to me in the future.”

“I love you too sweetheart. I will tell you where I’ve been after the both of us have had enough sleep. I promise not to lie to you. I promise to only not tell you things when I’m trying to surprise you.”

\------

Fred woke up when Arianna returned to their room. “You’ve been gone a long time…”

“Eugene needed someone to listen to him.”

“And he didn’t go to Rapunzel?”

Arianna got herself ready for bed in record time and returned to her husband’s arms.

“That’s what I said. He said he was going to sort it out.” She yawned “Goodnight dear.”

He chuckled, pulling her closer. “Good morning dear.”

**Author's Note:**

> Day 3 of Eugene Appreciation Week - Angst.
> 
> As always, head on over to my friends at @fishskiin on Tumblr to see all the wonderful posts celebrating Eugene.
> 
> Thank you for reading


End file.
